Establishing territory
by wanderingsmith
Summary: S/W - let's call it crackish, slightly OOC and made to feed my silly sappy side again


Summary: let's call it crackish, slightly OOC and made to feed my silly sappy side again  
Rating: PG13  
Disclaimer: I ain't got no money, and nobody'd be daft enough to pay me for this.

AN: _un betaed. So I think it was talking about John, and growly John in particular, that started this thought process. other than that, I thought it would do as just a little going away piece of fic for a skilled, courageous lady -sorry, luv.. I tried for smut..-. this will almost certainly get something added on to it.._

**Chapter one**

She was close, so close! The scene in her mind getting urgent, frantic,- Beep!

Elizabeth's hand jerked away as she gulped, and forcefully controlled her breath as she reached for her earpiece, hurriedly putting it on and acknowledging the call, "Yes?"

"The Cithka delegates have arrived early, Dr. Weir." She could hear the urgency the man was trying to pass on, easily interpreting that the visitors were being unpleasant. She hurriedly got up, grabbing the first clean shirt and trousers to hand, "I'm on my way. Thank you."

John met her just outside the control room, starting to give her a rundown of the surprise visit. When she stepped up to him he stuttered for a second and her brows rose at the way his nose flared. But then he shook his head and continued his report as they walked into the unnaturally silent gateroom.

With John right behind her, she greeted the leader of the people they were hoping to establish as trading partners. This ceremony was supposed to have happened tomorrow and she wasn't especially pleased at the change -the interruption to her time off- but the man was reasonably friendly, which was always a pleasant surprise.

Unlike the way John kept snipping and practically snarling at him... She finally convinced their visitor to take a tour of Atlantis with Teyla before they all sat down to discus the final details of their deal.

As soon as the visiting dignitaries were out of the room, she took a hard grip on John's shirtfront and pulled him to her office, too annoyed after the half-hour spend covering for him to mind his, their, reputations.

She pushed him in and then closed the door, earnestly wishing it was possible to slam it. She growled as she walked to her desk, glaring at him as he followed to stand besides her, looking grumpy and out-of-sorts, "What was all that about?? You were practically rude to the man!"

John growled back, "He was hitting on you!-"

Elizabeth gaped at him, controlling her tone only through long practise, "Hitting on me?? He has 3 wives!-"

He almost shouted his reply, "Exactly!"

"What is the matter with you, colonel??" As she lost it, her unaccustomed shout was loud in the small room, jarring them both. Closing her eyes for an instant, Elizabeth sat down slowly and tightened her hands together on her desk before she looked at him. She was too tense, far too tense to deal with this.

John took a deep breath, again feeling his heartbeat rise for no reason, "Nothing!" Still feeling twitchy and defencive, he shrugged, mumbling half apologetically, "I don't know. I'm just... unsettled for some reason."

She frowned, now that she was staring at him rather than hearing him snarl from over her shoulder, and had forced some control on herself, she could see he wasn't being childish; was actually tense. Her fury changed to caution, too used to paying attention to John's reactions, even if she didn't always go with them, to ignore them here. Even if his behaviour with their would-be allies did deserve a serious reprimand. "Do you think they're hiding something? Untrustworthy?"

".." He wanted to pace but on the other hand, he didn't want to move away and so ended up turning in place, then shifting his butt onto the corner of Elizabeth's desk before admitting, "Nooo, not.. really. Just..."

"Unsettled."

"Yeah," his fingers automatically reached for a weird object on her desk.

Elizabeth saw his hand move out of the corner of her eye and hurriedly moved to intercept his ATA magic touch on the mystery Ancient device, "No!"

Their hands collided at the device and it went rolling to the floor with a melodious 'ding'. "Don't put your hand on it! Its Ancient, Rodney left it here when he was called away in the middle of explaining something about a weapon."

John grunted acknowledgement, hopping off the desk to pick it up with the sleeve of his uniform jacket. He ended up crouched right next to Elizabeth and suddenly froze, his eyes widening as his mind stuttered to a halt. Ok, that scent he knew. His head turned slowly toward Elizabeth, unaware of the look in his eyes; unaware of instinctively breathing more of the scent in.

Shifting on her chair with the combination of still-present traces of arousal, John-effect, and just to give him room to manoeuvre, Elizabeth saw him go still and looked at him in curiosity, shocked when he turned to her with suddenly dilated eyes and an expression... That was lust if she ever saw it! What the hell?? Did he get himself bitten by something again?

Then he suddenly straightened and stepped away from her for the first time since this unpleasant meet-and-greet had started, "Sorry. You.. you're right. I'm not myself. I think I need a walk."

Before she could say a word he was gone toward the balcony door.

#

John walked right up to the edge of the balcony before exhaling explosively. Shit! Shitshitshit. Shit. He gripped the railing tight as the ugly pain squeezed at his chest. He had no right to feel this way! None. But damn it! What the hell was he supposed to do? To feel?

And a whispery, cruel-edged voice added the weaselly question, 'Who?'

He heard the door open behind him, not surprised she'd followed him; hunching in on himself automatically in expectation of more hurt.

Elizabeth had all but forgotten their visitors by the time she saw him standing there trying to make himself smaller; too worried about John now. She hurried to him, convinced now that he needed to see Carson. "John? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he mumbled, staring at his feet.

She grabbed his shoulder tightly, jerking him to face her, knowing surprise was the only way she'd get him to move; to face her. Shocked when she saw the pain in his eyes, she softened her grip; softened her voice, "John?? Please. Please tell me what's wrong."

The concern, for him, added to the pain somehow, "I.. I didn't know you were.. seeing someone," he was too wrapped up in dealing with the harsh spin his world had taken to hear how his voice had gotten soft and then cracked on the last words.

Elizabeth's mouth fell, her eyes blinking in confusion, "What? I'm not seeing anyone! What are you talking about, John??"

Her reaction made him wonder for a second, but there was no mistaking the smell of sex. On the other hand.. maybe she wanted to keep it completely quiet; even from him... Probably safer. His lips tightened at the thought that she didn't trust him, a different jab hitting him in the gut. But then he got a sharp grip on himself, reminding himself firmly that he owed her a thousand kindnesses; his very presence on Atlantis in the first place and probably his staying here after they reconnected with Earth.

What kind of friend was he, in the end? He straightened, clearing his throat and trying to keep his eyes on hers, giving up the concept of protecting his pride, "Listen, I promise I'll mind my manners. You can go back to... whatever you were doing before we interrupted you. I'll make peace with the Cithka and get that treaty signed. I swear."

Elizabeth frowned in hurt confusion, trying to understand what could possibly be causing him such anguish. "John? Why do you think you interrupted me?" It wasn't until she said the words that she even remembered what she had been doing. But why would he think she was... her eyes widened, wait; 'involved' with someone?? That was.. a little close to.. But he couldn't know.. could he?

He nodded when he saw her suddenly changed expression, "Yeah. So. Go ahead. I'll take care of the shop," he essayed a grin, aware it probably wouldn't have swayed a 5 year old, "You, go. Have.. fun." The word cost him, but he couldn't call himself her friend and not.. want her to be happy. He started to turn away, what her happiness cost him.. well that was his problem. She had enough things to deal with every day.

Elizabeth refused to let him go, let him turn away, narrowing her eyes and applying her knowledge of people, and her own flyboy in particular, to figuring this out. The look on his face and his questions about involvement made no sense if he actually knew what she'd been doing. Which meant he didn't. "John?" she used her calmest most non-nonsense, 'this is the leader of Atlantis speaking' tone, "Tell me exactly why you think I'm involved with someone." When he stared at her mutinously, she glared right back, she needed to know what was going on. He could still need to go to Carson. "Right damn now John Sheppard, or you are off field duty for a month and I'm giving you to Rodney as a guinea pig."

His eyes widened, "Hey!" even down in the dumps that was unfair! He was trying to be nice, and polite, here... well, fine then! He relied as matter-of-factly as he could, barring the slight undertone of growl he really couldn't help right now, "You were having sex just before Chuck called you to the control room."

Elizabeth didn't twitch, staring at him just as hard as ever, prepared, somewhat, for the topic after her own memory flash a minute ago. "No. I wasn't. Why do you think I was?" She wasn't counting masturbating as sex when he was obviously including someone else in his picture...

His voice got husky without his noticing, eyes darkening as he stared right back at her, "Because you smell of it." And that was probably why he'd been so unsettled before, now that he thought about it. Smelling aroused Elizabeth was bound to mess with his instincts...

Wait. Why were her eyes gleaming with suppressed laughter all of a sudden?? The blush he could get. Could feel one on his own face. But she was honestly amused! Damn it, what the hell had he missed now? And a quieter voice at the back of his mind, 'Did he care? If she really wasn't seeing anyone... Did he care why she was laughing??' even if it was at him.

Elizabeth cleared her throat carefully. Keeping her lips from stretching into a grin with conscious effort. "Sorry. Chuck made it sound urgent so I didn't take the time to wash up." She took a calming breath, sobering as she remembered the look on his face when she'd come out here, glad he was looking more like her John again. "I wasn't having sex with someone John," not unless in her head counted.. but she didn't think he would object to that, especially not if his reaction here was anything to go by. "I was..." she tilted her head briefly to the side, giving him an impish grin, wondering how he'd react, "Pleasuring 'myself'."

She watched him carefully as the silence stretched. For such a usually bright man it took him quite a few seconds to make sense of the euphemism. But then the wave of red that swept up his neck matched the wide eyes and gaping mouth. And then he stepped back, his body finally relaxing into standard 'John being teased' position, swearing under his breath as he slapped a palm to his forehead. The words idiot and moron came through his mumbling and some sibilant tones that had to Czech. When he finally got over the shock enough to look at her with pitifully apologizing puppy eyes, she let a smile half stretch her lips.

It occurred to her as he stepped back again that as close as he always stood.. he's probably been smelling her still-overheated body the whole time they dealt with the delegates. Which... probably accounted for his territorial behaviour. She winced. So having to deal with growly John had been her own fault, had it?

"));


End file.
